Talk:The Red Pen
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Premiered on the radio?
[edit]As requested by Guillaume Tell I've had a rummage in the archives to see if it can be established if The Red Pen received its premiere on the BBC rather than on stage. As far as I can discover, it has never been staged. This is all I can find about the first broadcast:
- The Times, 20 March 1925, p. 6: "The first performance of a ballad opera, The Red Pen by Mr. Geoffrey Toye will be broadcast from all stations except 5XX and Belfast, on Tuesday at 7.30 p.m."
- Writing in The School Music Review, K. A. Wright (billed as "of the B.B.C. Programme Staff") stated that the 24 March broadcast of the work would be its first performance. He also gave the name of the producer and conductor, viz. I. Stanton Jefferies (no, neither had I), which I've added to the article. ("Wireless News", The School Music Review, March 1925, p. 325)
- The Red Pen was described as the only "novelty" of the BBC's "Wireless Opera Season" in 1927, though it was its second broadcast. The other operas broadcast were Rigoletto, The Bohemian Girl, Faust, The Barber of Seville, Martha, Orpheus (Gluck), Fidelio, Romeo and Juliet, The Magic Flute, Philemon and Baucis, and Les Cloches de Corneville. (The Observer, 19 May 1927, p. 12) The BBC published the libretto in 1927 details here, though I don't think you can necessarily conclude from that that the BBC commissioned the piece, as the Corporation also published libretti for all the other operas broadcast in that season.
I notice that The Times's obituarist (12 June 1942, p. 7) did not think it necessary to mention this work among Toye's compositions, though his ballets Douanes and The Haunted Ballroom were mentioned. The above is all I can find. Tim riley (talk) 09:08, 31 March 2011 (UTC)
- Good. I think it's worth including some of that info. in the article. It would be interesting to know if the BBC did commission it consciously as a 'radio opera'. Perhaps the libretto would reveal some more details? There's also the question of whether it's a comic opera or an operetta (Grove) or ballad opera (above). P.S. Geoffrey Stanton and Stanton Jefferies! --Kleinzach 09:34, 31 March 2011 (UTC)